Inside the Fire Book One in the Warden's Series (29 page)

When we emerged on the other side there was
light all around us. Bright warm sunshine beamed down on my face
making my body tingle.

Oh the sun how I loathe
thee
.

I fidgeted a moment noticeably uneasy before
darting my eyes around the trees.

Where was Ramiel?

"Ramiel!" I called but there was no
answer.

I took a step towards the figure of a brown
haired woman who had her back to me. I reached out to touch her,
but she turned to face me before I could even put my hand on her
arm. I jerked my arm back and looked at her with wide eyes.

"You're late. Damn Angel doesn't know how to
be punctual." The woman said. She was young, maybe early twenties
with piercing green eyes and thin lips.

"I don't understand." I said to her.

"Of course not child and I don't expect that
you will after all of this. For some reason though they think you
will. One measly demon escapes Hell..." The woman cut off and
looked at me. "Oh you look so much like your father." She smiled
this devious grin, and I shifted my stance.

"What are you talking about one demon
escapes Hell?" This woman was already pushing my patience. I
swallowed, I had a feeling I was about to be enlightened and she
looked like she could be a talker.

"Yeah, the boy, the demon boy you know who
he is. Eyes as black as night, makes your knees knock and your
throat lock. He was once challenged with a quest to end the life of
a half-angel, by a mysterious suitor." She sighed. “Your father
sent him to the ninth level of Hell to be tortured for eternity.
Only thing is the little shit didn't make it. Some demon stepped in
between the dissention and let the boy go.” She growled. “That boy
has more power in his pinky than most of us that have been here for
ages.”

“I’m sorry say what?” I asked shaking my
head at her.

“Then there was the red head girl, a demon
hybrid is what she was. Demon goes to Earth has a little fling with
a Vampire girl then wham bam four months later a little one comes
out. She's up top right now leached on to some boy sucking him dry
she is."

Does this woman not ever
breathe?

"Poor kid gets closer and closer to deaths
door each day, of course she's doing it on purpose. The little
bitch is going to change him, make him immortal, just like she's
tried so many times before. Wants another one of her earthbound lap
dogs to add to the small army she’s created over time. I often lay
awake at night trying to figure out what she needs with so many but
I think she’s young so it has to be natural. Her father is with
another woman, a human of all things, and her mother was killed
about a century ago." She looked around her.

"The boy has a name." I said softly. "It’s
Wesley."

"Oh I totally forgot you got yourself all
entangled in that mess too. Dearie my suggestion to you is this. Go
home take a bottle of sleeping pills and just end the whole thing."
This woman was nuts absolutely mad. "Ok so the red head, what was
her name all those years ago? Vanessa? No, no that isn't it." She
was talking to herself counting on her fingers.

I just stood there tapping my foot. If I saw
Ramiel again I would have to give him a piece of my mind for
leaving me with such a crazy woman.

"LILLIANA!" She squealed. "That was the
girl’s name."

"She goes by Miranda now." I said between
clenched teeth.

"Wonder where she got that name? Sure don't
sound all that scary." She said looking at the ground. "They used
to call her the Black Lilly. She could invade anyone's dreams and
portray herself the victim. She used it to scare off anyone that
was trying to come between her and her prey. This was usually some
poor lost soul, a heart-struck boy usually suffering from a loss or
he had a special something to him. When she invaded the person’s
dream she left her calling card. Her signature touch was the black
Lilly. Each blood drop that hits the ground causes a black flower
to grow." My head started swimming.

“She was warding me off giving me her
warning. All I did was enticed her and she let him go just so she
could get to me. She never expected him to love me.” I looked at
the woman and a weak smile spread across my lips.

“Yes, yes child whatever you say. However
that is why you are here. The two are connected to your
intertwining little world. Jonathan chasing you and this, Miranda
you called her, she’s attached to him. The two will end at nothing
to tear you apart. He wants you as revenge for your father taking
his life before he could be completely turned.” She smiled her
devious smile again.

“Why are you helping me?” I asked her.

“Everyone thinks that Lucifer and God are in
this constant war, but they are not. Think of it as a silent
partnership. They have the ability to end time itself if they were
to join together and sooner or later that is where this whole place
is headed. Who do you think told Jonathan where you were that night
he attacked you? Who do you think told Miranda to attack you in
your dreams?” She looked around then at her watch. “It is time for
you to go, your quest has not yet ended. Down the road you will
find a house, go in have a seat on the couch, I will be along
shortly.” The woman touched my shoulders. “Don't take too long, the
boss tends to be testy if I'm not home at a reasonable hour."

“I never caught your name.” I said when she
let me go.

“Mara, now please hurry along, I have an
angel to speak to. Remember down the road, house, sit down and I
will be there shortly.” She instructed.

What the Hell was going on here?

I was never going to get away from this
night. Well might as well face the facts, I looked up at the sky
and frowned.

This is going to leave some hellacious
scars.

Visions

When Mara said it would be a house I was
expecting just that. Not this huge elaborate black stoned castle
situated at the top of a large hill. I felt like I was standing
outside of Vlad the Impalers home in Romania. I could just imagine
how Jonathan Harker must have felt walking up to the legendary
Dracula’s door.

I shrugged and went through the large iron
gates, walking up the long ass driveway. Finally I was at the huge
front door. The damn thing must have weighed a hundred pounds as I
pushed it noisily open, this would be just wonderful. The place was
obviously deserted and could use a good cleaning but it was warm
none the less. I found my way to the sitting room and took a seat
on a red velvet couch that was probably older than my mother and
father put together, but was still amazingly comfortable.

“What did you do, take the long way here?”
Mara came out of an adjoining room her hair was up and she was
wearing a long flowing black dress. “I figured five minutes and you
would make it. I wasn’t expecting five hours. Goodness child.” The
room had darkened. I could have sworn the sun was still up when I
came in.

“Sorry I suppose I got turned around along
the way.” I said extremely confused. Any excuse would work for me
right now.

Seriously, I swear the sun was still up when
I arrived.

“Do you know who I am?” She asked me placing
candles around the room.

“No.” I said slowly.

Was I supposed to know who she was?

“Well then let me give you a crash course.”
She smiled. “I am the demon of nightmares.” She bowed gracefully
then started to giggle like a school girl. She clasped her hands
together and looked at the window.

“
OK here is what I am
going to do. I am going to sit here with you as you go back in
time. Nobody else will be able to penetrate your mind while I am
here. Lilliana was strong but I am much stronger when it comes to
mind games.” She giggled again and rushed over to take a seat next
to me.

“Ok.” I said slowly watching every move she
made.

“You will be her.” She grabbed my face. “You
will see through her eyes and feel what she feels. However when you
come back you will know what you saw and how she felt and it in no
way will it be tied to you. There is no coming out early if it gets
too scary and you will not have your powers. So just remember you
cannot turn anyone to ash.” She kissed me on the lips. A very
awkward kiss to be precise.

“Will you be there?” I asked, the room was
starting to spin.

What could be on her lips to cause me to
reel?

“No. I will be here silly. You are on your
own with this one. I have faith you will come out just fine.” She
kissed me again and the whole world went black.

****

It moved similar to a fast paced movie
really. As soon as the outside world went dark I found myself
nestled in the warm body of an eighteen year old girl. I could feel
her emotions, hear her thoughts. She was a happy girl with nothing
but wonderful thoughts in her head. His face was vivid in her mind
and I could feel the love she had for him all around me. How I knew
this feeling I’m not really one hundred percent sure since my
experience with being in love felt more like heartburn and dread
mixed with the anticipation that the world would end.

We were sitting at her desk doodling hearts
on a piece of paper when he came into the room. My own feelings
seemed to separate for a moment as excitement filled her body. She
was having all these happy thoughts that were making me want to
gag.

She flung herself into his arms as she
giggled with glee. He wrapped them around her and held her close
kissing her forehead and whispering how much he had missed her. The
conversations were muffled for the most part. All I could make out
is that they hadn’t been together in quite a while. In fact she
hadn’t seen him in a week and his appearing from nowhere filled her
with a happiness that I had no clue how to understand.

He didn’t look like the boy that haunted me.
He looked alive and carefree, very happy. His eyes were brown and
soft. If I didn’t already know the outcome of this relationship I
would assume that he would cause her no harm. His touch was warm
and comforting and his kisses were sweet and innocent. She loved
this boy with all her being and he loved her.

I could feel that he fueled every fiber in
her body. She longed for him when he wasn’t there and when he was
she felt complete. I knew that feeling. I felt it so much with
Wesley, that feeling I get when alone. I was nothing without him,
but with him I was everything. She was so madly in love with him
and the thought of what happens to her in the end sends a shock of
pain through my soul.

Suddenly we flash forward and we are
standing in a field picking flowers as he watches from a blanket.
His eyes are darker but he still holds the same emotional balance
he did when I first saw him. It had been several weeks since she
had seen him. He had made plans to go on a vacation to Germany with
some of his college friends and just returned. He looked different.
There was a darkness in his eyes that wasn’t there before he left.
He seemed lost at times and quite jumpy. She brushed it off as
nothing, deciding it was just the fact that he was tired.

She ran towards him and pounced landing in
his arms where he held her kissing her sweetly and telling her that
he loved her. She was concerned still. He had been acting funny
since he had returned from Germany. Talking to himself when he
thought she wasn’t looking. He was always tired it seemed and his
complexion had paled. He had gone missing a few times in the days
since his return. His parents frantic pulling her from her bed in
the middle of the night demanding to know where he was.

Things had been happening to her too. She
kept having dreams of herself standing in a field looking up at the
Heavens when suddenly wings would erupt from her back and she would
take to the skies and fly. The freedom she felt scared her.
Everyone dreams of flying but not everyone dreams of being an
angel. She hadn’t told him that she had woke up with feathers in
her bed or that she often found herself levitating. She didn’t want
to scare him, he was so sick. This is why it had taken so long for
him to get to her after he got home. He had been complaining of
headaches and jet lag. She had let it go knowing that as soon as he
could he would be there in her arms again.

Another flash forward and we were standing
in a parking lot his hands were hard on her arms and he was
screaming at her. His eyes were full of rage and loathing. She was
scared. He had disappeared the night before and when she asked him
where he had gone he had exploded on her.

She had found him drawing pictures of
another woman and she was concerned he was disappearing at night to
be with her. The images he drew were so detailed and careful that
the girl on the page looked almost real. The image in her head was
foggy I couldn’t make out the drawing completely but the thought
that there was a connection somewhere was nagging me.

Instead she was insulted and then assaulted
in the parking lot. He tried to correct himself like he was having
some internal battle but she couldn’t understand it. His fist came
back and with tears in his eyes he slammed his fist into her face.
Her world went dark. I was confused, nothing happened at first then
slowly her eyes opened to the horrifying world around her.

We were in an alleyway her hands tied above
her head, fear started to fill me. I knew this. I knew what would
happen. I didn’t want to be here for this. I wanted to be back in
Castlevania looking at Mara. I would rather be lying on that aged,
yet soft, red couch discussing anything but what happened to this
poor girl.

Instead here we are clothes torn, wrists
bleeding, and an enraged boy standing in front of us with his teeth
clenched. He didn’t look like the boy that I saw in the first
vision. He looked more like the monster that haunted me. He was
pale, angry, and his eyes were black as night.